Suspected drunk driver accused of crashing into mom pushing daughter in stroller

CLOVER, S.C. — A suspected drunk driver is facing charges after state troopers said he crashed into a mother who was pushing her young daughter in a stroller Sunday afternoon near Clover.

According to the Highway Patrol, the mother was pushing the stroller in the grass on the shoulder of Lake Dale Drive when 49-year-old Emilio Padilla Jr. hit them with his car.

She told Channel 9′s Greg Suskin that they were searching for a lost dog when it happened. She said they were walking when she felt something like a baseball bat hit her in the back of the head, and her daughter was knocked from her stroller and bleeding badly.

“To find out they were actually ran over, it just ... I was immediately upset,” said Jessica Janson, a close friend of the 37-year-old victim.

Troopers said Padilla, who lives on the same street, drove his pick-up truck off the road into the grass and struck the mother and child from behind, knocking them down.

Padilla did not stop after the collision, according to troopers.

“That’s just unthinkable in my mind that you could leave a woman and a child laying on the side of the road,” said Gordon Gates, who lives nearby.

The victim said she carried her daughter about a quarter of a mile down the street while yelling for help.

Both the woman and her child were taken to the hospital. Troopers said they should be OK.

Janson said, amazingly, they’re home from the hospital.

“They just got home at 2:00 this morning and trying to sleep and being in pain throughout the night as well,” Janson said.

Padilla was charged with felony DUI causing bodily injury and felony hit-and-run causing great bodily injury. His bond was set at $30,000.

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